Local highway authorities can gain a share of a four million pound fund set up to encourage innovative approaches to improving road safety. The Road Safety Partnership Grant Scheme will provide funding to about 20 English local highway authorities.

The scheme, which has been launched by the Transport Minister, Stephen Ladyman, has been established to promote a collaborative approach to all aspects of delivering better road safety. In particular it has been designed to encourage partnerships between traditional road safety professionals and other service providers such as schools, the health sector, the fire service, the youth service and the voluntary sector. It is hoped, too that it will lead to the development of road safety schemes that produce environmental and regeneration benefits.

Stephen Ladyman said the Government was on course to meet its commitment to cut the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents by 40 percent but, with nine deaths each day on the roads, important work still needed to be done. “I want this new money to stimulate imaginative and innovative schemes that will help us to drive down road casualties everywhere,” he said.

The Road Safety Partnership Grant scheme will promote the establishment and sharing of sustainable good practice in road safety delivery; partnership working by local authorities and other bodies; and the inclusion into the mainstream of successful activities and approaches pioneered in recent road safety projects, especially those addressing the impact on road safety of disadvantage.

Authorities that want to bid for a share of the four million pounds have to do so before January 2nd 2007 and those that are successful will be notified by the end of March. Applications will be assessed in relation to the road safety issue to be addressed; proposed objectives; value for money; arrangements for monitoring and evaluation; evidence of the contribution by partners and sustainability.

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